Liverpool solar grants: what's really on offer, and who runs it

The short answer

Is there a solar grant in Liverpool?

In short: not one that anybody can apply for. National funding for solar panels on homes isn't paid to households in general. What Liverpool does have is its share of Warm Homes: Local Grant, a government-funded scheme that councils in England run for lower-income households. Liverpool City Council lists solar PV and PV batteries among the measures it may offer, alongside insulation, heating controls, windows and doors, and heat pumps.

Two conditions sit at the heart of it. The home must have an energy performance certificate rated D, E, F or G. And the household must meet one of three routes: living in an eligible postcode, receiving a qualifying means-tested benefit, or having a household income below £36,000, or passing the after-housing-costs test. Meeting them is the start of a process, not a promise of panels: a retrofit survey decides what suits the house, and the budget decides who gets work.

See the council's scheme in detail and who qualifies.

Why the confusion

Why "solar grant" means so many things

Search for solar grants in Liverpool and you'll find adverts promising panels at no cost, firms "checking your eligibility", and pages naming schemes that ended years ago. Some are genuine routes into a council scheme; many are lead generation, collecting details to sell on. The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled against a "Government Solar Checker" that implied government funding where there was none.

The test for any offer is simple: who runs the scheme, and can you find it yourself on a council or GOV.UK page? In Liverpool, the council's own page says it won't take expressions of interest by email or phone to its Healthy Homes team; interest is registered through the GOV.UK referral portal. Anyone who says otherwise is worth checking. See grant scams and cold calls.

Liverpool City Council

How the council's scheme works

Liverpool City Council says the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero awarded it £5.8 million to improve the energy efficiency of around 450 properties over three years. Its second year runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 and is oversubscribed; people can register interest for year three, which starts on 1 April 2027.

The steps, as the council describes them: register through the GOV.UK referral portal; receive an acknowledgement; if your application progresses, an engagement officer contacts you and may ask for proof of identity, income or ownership; the council's framework contractor carries out a retrofit survey; and, if the work fits the budget, it goes ahead or joins a waiting list. The council says it won't ask qualifying households for a financial contribution.

More in applying and waiting lists.

If you don't qualify

Paying for panels yourself

Most Liverpool households won't qualify for a grant, and that's the norm across England, not a Liverpool quirk. If you pay yourself, HMRC's VAT Notice 708/6 zero-rates the installation of solar panels and batteries in homes until 31 March 2027, after which the rate becomes 5%. Homeowners can apply for a Warm Homes loan through a participating lender to spread the cost; it's a loan, repaid with interest, and GOV.UK says the installer must usually be MCS certified.

Once the panels are working, the Smart Export Guarantee pays for electricity you send to the grid, from a supplier you choose, if the installation and installer are MCS certified and you have a meter that records half-hourly exports. See solar panels without a grant and a checklist for buying solar.

Liverpool's sun

What panels produce here

The European Commission's PVGIS tool puts a south-facing, 35° panel array in central Liverpool at about 964 kWh a year for each kilowatt-peak of panels, with east- and west-facing roofs nearer 747 to 766 kWh. A roof facing east or west still works, but produces about a fifth less than a south-facing one.

Take-up has risen quickly: DESNZ counted 8,074 solar PV installations in Liverpool by the end of 2025, against 3,966 at the end of 2021. That's still about 3.9 per 100 households, against about 6.5 across England. See solar panels in Liverpool.

Planning

Conservation areas and permission

Liverpool City Council says the city has 36 conservation areas, covering 9% of the city and about 19,000 properties, from Sefton Park and Lark Lane to Wavertree and Woolton villages. In some, an Article 4 direction means changes to a building's outside need planning permission even where they'd normally be permitted development. Check before any panels are planned, whether a grant pays or you do. See planning and conservation areas.

Other schemes

Schemes that don't pay for solar

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays towards heat pumps and biomass boilers, not panels. ECO4, the energy company scheme, closes on 31 December 2026 and isn't taking new households. Council and housing association homes are improved through their landlord's own programme. Each has its place, but none is a route to solar for an ordinary Liverpool household. See other energy help and batteries and grants.